Overall, consumption of all fibres increased considerably, except for wool, for which the figure remained relatively stable and which was consistently the least-consumed fibre throughout the period. Cotton was overtaken by polyester, which became the most widely consumed fibre by the end, while cellulosic ranked in the penultimate position.
In 1980, 15 million tonnes of cotton fibre were consumed, which was the highest for that year, followed by polyester, cellulosic, and wool, at around 5 million tonnes. By 2000, both cotton and polyester fibres experienced a dramatic rise to 20 million tonnes, while the figure for cellulosic and wool fibres remained relatively stable at 5 million tonnes and 4,6 million tonnes, respectively.
For the rest of the period, most categories proceeded with their respective trends. Polyester fibre saw its figure considerably increase to just under 50 million tonnes and suppressed the figure for cotton, which reached its peak of 27 million tonnes in 2005 before falling to 25 million tonnes by the end of the period. Meanwhile, consumption of cellulosic rose steadily to 7 million tonnes by the end of the period, whereas wool fibre reached its peak of 6.3 million tonnes in 2010 before falling back to its original level by the end.